[a/n0]jcastro-Go on with any/all your ideas with my blessing. They look good. Like Miriam1said it was intended as a clear lampoon of the "harem" fics. Ginny & Luna are easy adds, a Slytherin or 2 too, just to disrupt everyone's expectations.

[a/n]A postwar moment

Harry Does Different CCCLXIX

Lavender Brown

Harry sat near the front of the chapel. This was the tenth funeral he'd been to since the Battle of Hogwarts. He really didn't expect to speak here, but after her parents approached him he felt he had no choice. Despite living in the same House with the girl for half a dozen years he didn't know her that well and didn't have a real great opinion from what he DID know. He spent a sleepless night struggling to write a speech, ultimately throwing himself on the bed where he did little more than beat up his pillow.

"What did you write down?" Hermione whispered in his ear. She too was asked to speak. At his dismayed expression she clearly wanted to scream but forced another whisper "Harry! Shame on you. And I don't even have a scroll and quill to compose something."

Harry sighed "Guess I'll just wing it. Listen to what others say."

"I liked Lavender." Hermione was concluding her speech "I freely admit I didn't treat her well during Sixth Year. For that, I am truly sorry. She was my friend. She certainly didn't deserve to die as she did. I wish I'd had the opportunity to apologize to her." She went, sobbing, to sit beside Ron and leaned into a one-armed embrace.

After a couple speakers, Harry stood. He felt the eyes of the entire assembly on him, only heightening his nervousness. He cleared his throat once…twice…thrice "Mr and Mrs Brown, thank you for the honor of speaking last. Not being raised in a wizard house, I apologize in advance if anything I say offends. First, I'm very sorry she died. What about Lavender? The truth is, I didn't know her well. Maybe that's my fault, I did live in the same dorm she did for six years. And she was my best friend's girlfriend for a while. What I did know is she was rather a gossip, along with Pavarti Patil, and not especially powerful magically."

That wasn't just rude, you just didn't say negative things about the deceased at her funeral.

"It makes her last deed especially brave in my opinion." He went on "Me and my friends were searching Hogwarts for something of Voldemort's." on this occasion he ignored the nearly obligatory gasps "I just came from the Ravenclaw Common Room and hit the fifth floor landing, when I heard a scream. Of course I stopped. There were three small kids, must have been First Years, they were cornered by the werewolf Fenrir Greyback."

This apparently no one had heard if the looks on people's faces was any indication.

"It's true" Harry went on gravely "I was too far away to help, but I saw it. Greyback was in the middle of forcing his werewolf change, to kill the kids, Lavender let out a scream and pounced on his back. She yelled for the three to run, which they did. In the meantime, he threw her off and was …well… maybe I shouldn't describe- -"

Mr. Brown was holding Mrs. Brown, but insisted "No, Mr. Potter, I need to know."

"There's kids here" Harry qualified his response "can I just say it's a good thing she was already unconscious? Animals don't do nice things when they're eating. Greyback was more animal that human then. Anyway, Hermione and Professor Trelawney drove him off, but it was too late. So…maybe Lavender Brown wasn't the greatest student in Hogwarts, but like everyone who fought that day, Lavender was certainly one of the bravest. She died protecting others. I wish I'd known her better, and Mr and Mrs Brown, sorry for your loss." He choked back a sob and left the lectern.